University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Regional Centers Program

Program Identity & Fit

This is a newly accredited (2025), unopposed rural track family medicine residency sponsored by UAMS Regional Centers, structured around a distinctive urban-to-rural training arc: PGY-1 in Little Rock at UAMS Medical Center and Arkansas Children's, followed by PGY-2/PGY-3 fully embedded in El Dorado, a small South Arkansas community. The program's defining feature is its obstetrics-heavy scope-of-practice model, with residents training at a clinic averaging ~600 deliveries annually, exposure to NSVDs, assisted deliveries, and surgical OB (C-sections), reinforced by a dedicated Family Medicine Surgical Obstetrics Fellowship pathway. More than 50% of training occurs at rural sites, individualized via an Individual Learning Plan, and the unopposed PGY-2/3 structure is explicitly designed to build independence and broad procedural competence for rural full-scope practice rather than subspecialization. As one of the program's inaugural cohorts, it values residents comfortable with pioneering a new curriculum, relocating to a small community, and committing to comprehensive rural generalist practice including maternity care.